Day 1836: Seventy three degrees!

Seventy three degrees here on February 24!  Oh, but there's no such thing as global warming.  The daffodils are up, crocus are blooming, buds on the lilac are swelling.  Tomorrow night, a cold front will blow through and freeze it all again.  On the west coast, drought has turned into floods.   Their empty reservoirs are now at 120% capacity.  And that's before the snow pack in the Sierras starts melting.  Colin says the rain is constant, but it soaks into the ground quickly.

Every topic has political implications and every day there is a new onslaught to deal with.  Today, the madman again attacked the free press and banned several news agencies from White House briefings.  Their complaint is the stories about the administration's efforts to squelch the investigation into their connections to the Russians during the campaign and with Flynn.

I speak with Reed's office each day about a variety of topics, but this week my focus has been on Trump's taxes, an independent investigation of the Russian influence into our election and HR 610 which would eliminate the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and provide block grants to each state.  A portion of each grant would be given to families to send their kids to private, religious or charter schools.  It would also eliminate the no hungry child act which provided nutritional guidelines for the kids' breakfasts and lunches.  When this campaign first started, I always spoke with Jacqueline, but now there are three more people in the office.  Must be he had to hire more staff.

Tom delivered the components of the largest main set this afternoon.  He's been working like crazy to plan, measure and cut all the pieces for us to assemble.  It was a huge undertaking and his last for FHS musicals.  He's been a team player for ten years, but he's done and he told Steve that he ought to say no more often, too.  It has crossed our minds.  This is my 20th show and Steve's 18th.  That's a long time.

The assemble crew today was Steve, Ben S, James, Kyle, Caryn, Adam and me.  We built the whole frame between 3:30 and 5:30.  Steve, Tom and Ben unloaded and stacked all the pieces.  Caryn and Kyle used the hammer drills, the rest of us measured, assembled and held pieces in place.

On the book front, there is progress as well.  The publisher emailed the book back to me, all laid out.  Over the next few days, I will review the text again since he said I use too many exclamation points.  Although I want to publish, I also had hoped for incisive editorial comments from an experienced, neutral reader.  This particular firm is not likely to provide that service.  I'm excited, but with reservations.  There are so many unanswered questions at this point.  So this is my next challenge.  

Day 1835: Flying high on the High Line

We had a fabulous weekend visit with our sons!   So very glad we took time off from musical and backpacking and all our other responsibilities to spend time with our family.  Lots of time to visit, enjoy some exotic foods and soak up springtime sunshine.  More later when I'm not dopey with exhaustion from traveling.

Friday night:  Thai food at Yum Yums

Saturday brunch at Red Rooster

Saturday afternoon in Central Park

Sunday afternoon on the High Line

Day 1834: Fantastic news!

Fantastic news!  The second publisher just emailed me and asked for the manuscript!  I am so excited!  Tomorrow morning, I'll link all the chapters and create a PDF file to send. Wow.  Finally, it's happening.  Thank goodness I sent the query again yesterday because he said his response to me bounced back.  I wish I had checked my email earlier today so I could have been working on it all evening.  This is the moment I've been working toward for eight years!

I had written all of the following before I opened my email, so now it feels like old news.

This morning we cooked up a couple new rice dishes for our Cassadaga backpackers to sample.  The kids have truly rejected the cheesy potatoes we usually prepare on the Thursday night of the four day hike.  So many of them dump them into the trash that it didn't make sense to stick with that menu item.   Taco rice, yellow rice and rice pilaf were tested this afternoon and the kids loved all of them.  We're going to offer them tortilla shells to hold the rice along with salsa for flavoring.  It's time to shake up the menu and I think everyone will like it.

Congressman Reed's town hall this Saturday promises to be quite the event.  At least three meetings have been held this week to prepare participants.  They are writing questions, discussing strategy and tactics.  We learned tonight that both MSNBC and NPR will be covering the meeting.  He set himself up by talking about the meeting this morning on Fox.  He's made himself a target for his votes in Congress on several issues including voting to squash a bill requiring DT to release his taxes.  I've called several more times and have gotten to know Jacqueline in his Jamestown office and Chris in the Washington office.  I asked him to support an independent investigation into the campaign's contacts with the Russians and condemn Trump's conducting national security matters in a restaurant in his Florida resort.

Reed was interviewed by the Jamestown Post Journal and stated that the EPA had overextended its authority by trying to regulate milk spills as toxic waste.  I did the research on that and several other topics and provided all the information to his office.  I told  them I wanted him to have correct information before he voted to eliminate the EPA.  Tomorrow, they're changing the endangered species act!

Protests everywhere!  And lots of different targets.  We both dumped on the DCCC for their lack of action in Georgia to put up and support a viable candidate for the Congressional seat formerly occupied by Tom Price.    Tonight a huge crowd demanded the Buffalo School board remove Carl Paladino.  On April 15, there's a march to demand DT's taxes.  Then another march to promote science on April 22, Earth Day. But, it's the daily work on Congress and the Senate that matters most.

Yesterday, we walked three miles through town and discovered emerging signs of spring.

Then this morning, we woke to a glistening white world.  Snow clung to every branch and wire.  

It was magical.

Day 1833: Grammys

We're actually enjoying the Grammys tonight.  It's a welcome non-political reprieve.  I especially liked Adele's opening number as well as the dynamic duos they paired up.  Beyonce's performance was stunning and Bruno Mars always puts on a great show.  Adele's tribute to George Michael was gorgeous and she had the courage to stop the number when the sound was off and start again.  Last year, her performance was ruined by a faulty sound system.

There was no rehearsal yesterday, but Steve had a work party for much of the day.  It's so difficult because there are no other adults helping at those times.  Just supervising the kids is a full time job and it means he doesn't get everything done that he plans.  I thought we might take a day off from musical but Steve had to rebuild a platform because Ben didn't think the old one was high enough.  So, we knocked that out in 90 minutes. I prefer construction to sewing much of the time.  Cutting wood on stage makes such a mess because sawdust blows all over and requires vacuuming the entire stage afterward.

We fitted many of the kids with western style shirts on Thursday night.  I brought them home to launder, press and label for Monday's rehearsal.  Many of the girls now have prom dresses and a few are set for church dresses, but we still have lots to do!  Fortunately, high waisted jeans are back in vogue so most of the girls can provide their own.  It's a relief that we won't be sewing two dozen black and white coats again!

Yesterday, we had a huge turnout at the third meeting of CC WAG.  We're organizing, growing in membership and planning for the future.  The main target is: Tom Reed.  We must defeat him in 2018!  He at least is holding town halls starting next Saturday.  Chris Collins of Erie County has never held a town hall and says he doesn't intend to.  So, he doesn't feel it's necessary to be accountable to his constituents.  He has to go down, too.

From one of our walks earlier this week.

We've had mixed rain, winds, snow, and sunny skies this week. 

Feels like spring is coming!

Day 1832: 3-0 appellate court decision!

The Federal Appellate Court ruled 3-0 against Trump's travel ban!  If the decision ultimately reaches the Supreme Court, the 4-4 tie there would return the decision to the lower court.  If the administration had simply done proper research in advance of the original executive order, they might have avoided this humiliation.   DT tweeted, "See you in court!"  They did not think strategically.

So much political news to discuss, but my favorite event of the week till today was Mitch McConnell's effort to shut up Elizabeth Warren.  She was reading a letter written by Coretta Scott King in 1986 regarding the qualifications of Jeff Sessions.  McConnell invoked article 19 which says that a senator may not impugn the reputation of a fellow senator.  However, Warren was simply entering into the Congressional record a pertinent letter by a civil rights icon.   She just went outside the Senate chamber and read it into Facebook live.  It's had over nine millions views.  The action backfired on McConnell and now a new slogan has emerged.  "She persisted!" So true for every woman I know.

Another time, I'll talk about Nordstrom's, Conway and the conflicts of interest.  Too tired after our busy week with rehearsals, meetings, classes, and political action.

On one of our walks this week, we found this lovely scene of Canadaway.

The newest class of Quest backpackers!

Day 1831: The Phoenix

At 8 am, Molly was up crying at the basement door for breakfast.  A week ago, she was on death's doorstep.  Her eye is black, so we believe she had another bleed, probably from a blood pressure spike from her failing kidneys.  The event was much like the one in December although she bounced back much faster then.  We made train reservations to visit our sons thinking she would be gone by then, but she has more than once astounded us with her resilience.

After our jam-packed week, we spent much of yesterday reading quietly in our chairs set by the fire.  My newest book was The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey.  Set in Alaska in the 1920s, the story was based on an ancient Russian folk tale of an old couple who yearned for a child,  built a little girl of snow and she came to life.   In this novel,  a young girl befriends an older couple in a remote area of Alaska and their encounters are so ethereal and fleeting that they at first wonder if she is real.  Their relationship continues for several years with the girl arriving with the first snow fall and then disappearing during spring and summer.  She is truly alive, but is a feral child who lost her mountain man father and continues to live and sustain herself alone in the mountains.  I won't give away any more of the story.  The elegant and lilting prose along with the sense of magical mystery made the novel totally engaging.  I finished it in two days.

The new tally for Quest 2017 is 69!  It turned out that all six students from Silver Creek whose parents attended meetings finally enrolled.  The equipment seminar on Saturday was very successful. We were very grateful that three student leaders showed up to help.  They took attendance, monitored the free equipment table, packed up gear, and hauled it out to the car.   Quite a number adults attended also.  I was especially proud of Brigitte who is ready to take over the tent, sleeping bag and backpack station.  She's been interning for several years and has learned much of the operation.  Same thing with Jake.  Always dependable, eager to learn and assist, thoughtful and with good judgement, these young adults are the future.

Today, my plan is to revisit every chapter to check for the use of clorox or bleach bottles in the text of the book.  I think I'll have to make a reference to the change early in the book and then clarify the information in the equipment chapter.  I hope to write a new query letter tomorrow for a different publisher and get that out sometime this week.  Since I did so much work on the first one, I should be able to adapt much of the pitch for the next publisher.  Winter is nearly over and the pressures of the new expedition are keeping me from my primary goal: get the book published!

Day 1830: Quest deadlines

Why is it so difficult for people to follow directions?  Parent meetings, documents, student meetings, fifty announcements, emails, phone calls.  Honestly, what more could we possibly do to convey the importance of deadlines?  Steve gets particularly frustrated and it's very annoying, but the roster is almost complete.

Steve is out and we still have to do the counting, but it looks like we have 49 from Fredonia, 14 from Cassadaga and 3 from Silver Creek.  There was no meeting in SC due to a sick child, so we won't know the confirmed number till tomorrow.  Unfortunately, no eighth graders from Brocton enrolled this year.  It's been an uphill struggle there for years.  We have never broken the five student threshold there and two years ago only one student enrolled.  We won't make any final decisions this week, but I'm leaning toward discontinuing our relationship. For nine years we've poured a lot of time and energy into developing that program.  The great thing is that we've developed fantastic friendships between our communities.  Also, the student leaders from Brocton have been absolutely outstanding! We have invited them to join us on the hikes if the principal permits.

The happy surprise is that Cassadaga has enrolled fourteen students!  I met them today and they were absolutely delightful!  Ten girls and four guys with the four male student leaders.  We had a great class with lots of activities, enthusiasm, curiosity and cooperation.  It was uplifting, energizing, validating and encouraging.  The daily progression of horrible news, my heart and mind are so troubled and fearful for the future.  Spending an hour with beautiful young people who are so full of life and hope is helping me cope.

We tore up the kitchen and lavatory floors yesterday.  The toilet sat in the kitchen while all our trim decorated the counters.  Dust everywhere!  Terry and Steve made quick progress.  The lavatory tile is laid and most of the kitchen floor is done.  Tomorrow, we strip out the office floor and create more mess.  Steve's clothes are on the dining room table, his shoes lined up underneath.   All the disruption has had a positive effect in the short run cause we've sorted and thrown out lots of stuff!

Molly's health has consumed us over the last few days. In fact, I am very surprised she is still alive.  For two days she ate nothing and took only a few sips of water.  Then this morning, she came upstairs, ate a little breakfast, looked around and watched Price is Right with Steve.  She's amazing.

There was an attack on mosque in Quebec City and the white Christian nationalist shooter killed six people who were simply praying.  And of course the President cited the incident as cause for the ban. Really?  Another mosque in Texas was set on fire.  There was a quick response.  The rabbi of the local synagogue handed the imam the keys to the synagogue so they could use it for their services.   A Go-Fund-Me page raised over a million dollars in a few days so they can rebuild.

In Texas, every two years the Muslim community holds a Texas Muslim Capitol Day where the teens learn about state government.  In 2015 it was overwhelmed by a crowd who harassed the teens and shouted sickening things at them.  This year, two thousand people turned out to form a human chain around the group to protect them from harassment.  It was inspiring.

I've taken some kind of action every day but Sunday.  Today, I nominated former acting Attorney General Sally Yates for the JFK Profiles in Courage Award.  She stood up for the constitution in opposition to the Muslim immigration ban.  All over the country ordinary people are banding together to resist. Our next target is the Supreme Court nominee.  We are rewriting Democratic strategy every day.

New floor!